The complete DNA sequence of the mitochondrial genome of a "living fossil," the coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae).

A white paper for sequencing the genome of a living fossil: the coelacanth, Latimeria chalumnae

Two living species of coelacanths?

During the period of September 1997 through July 1998, two coelacanth fishes were captured off Manado Tua Island, Sulawesi, Indonesia. These specimens were caught almost 10,000 km from the only other known population of living coelacanths, Latimeria chalumnae, near the Comores. The Indonesian fish was described recently as a new species, Latimeria menadoensis, based on morphological differentia...

Searching for the closest living relative(s) of tetrapods through evolutionary analyses of mitochondrial and nuclear data.

The phylogenetic relationships of the African lungfish (Protopterus dolloi) and the coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae) with respect to tetrapods were analyzed using complete mitochondrial genome DNA sequences. A lungfish + coelancanth clade was favored by maximum parsimony (although this result is dependent on which transition:transversion weights are applied), and a lungfish + tetrapod clade was...

The hypothesis that coelacanth is the closest living relative of tetrapods 3 was rejected based on three genome-scale approaches

21 2 1 Since its discovery of the " living fossil " in 1938, the coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae) has generally 2 been considered to be the closest living relative of the land vertebrates, and this is still the prevailing 3 opinion in most general biology textbooks. However, the origin of tetrapods has been the subject of 4 intense debate for decades. The three principal hypothesis (lungfish-te...

Extrapolating movement without retinal motion.

Comoran coelacanths are sluggish, nocturnal drift hunters that feed on other fish and have a low metabolic rate 6. During the day, they retreat to the still water of deep lava caves 1. The Indonesian sites would therefore seem to be unsuitable for sustaining a viable population of L. chalumnae. So far, four Indonesian coelacanths have been found in a relatively small area along the north Sulawe...